Welcome to muslim tea room 2.

[defuse]

Peace to you all

Ok, well here it is again...we have moved to room 2 now

Discuss whatever aspect of islam you like my lovely sisters - this is a place for muslims and non-muslims too, to share experiences, raising kids or just having your say!

The kettle is on.... We have loads of herbal teas, coffee and guava juice .... I like guava juice so welcome!

Assalamualaykum all. Just popping in and waving to you all. I'm not a regular poster here but it's lovey to find like minded sisters on my set too.

peacefuloptimist taking your DS to umrah depends on what he's like and what your temperament is like too. For many, it's just too much of a distraction but if your DS is not overly boisterous, will hold your hand and does not get overly hyper, it's not too bad. You also need to be a bit laid back and let him run around a little and be prepared to miss going to Haram if he's sleeping. It doesn't mean your reward is reduced in the slightest as women are excused from attending the congregation prayers, especially so if they have young children to attend to.

I've been for umrah numerous times alhamdulillah and I've always taken my DC with me. They're older now but I've taken toddlers and even breastfeeding children in the past so I'm very comfortable with having them there. They know their limits, always stay close and I've also adjusted to doing things in a certain way with them. I hardly ever go for zuhar salah and sometimes offer fajr in the hotel if any of them are sleeping. I have fixed times for tawaf where DH looks after the little ones and we sit in women's sections near him so the DC can run inbetween both sections, sometimes siting with him and sometimes with me. We have a good system and I don't get stressed by having the kids around me when I'm engaged in ibadah so it works well. Umrah is easy alhamdulillah, so you won't find it tiring to have him around you. I even took four of my DC to hajj with me when I was 5-6 months pregnant and although alhamdulillah, Allah facilitated everything for us with the utmost ease and comfort for which I am eternally grateful, I would be wary about recommending other to take them because they may not have the same experience as us. Make istikhara of two rakahs and inshallah Allah will open up your mind to a decision that's best for you all.

Scrolling up and checking your date of posting... your probably already left or made a decision at least so this is a bit late. I pray Allah accepts your umrah and grants us all an opportunity to visit and revisit His Beloved (SAW).

I also just wanted to add for those finding it difficult to balance roles with their ibadah that being a mother, a wife and a daughter is ibadah in itself. One of the best things about bring a Muslim is that we are rewarded for all our actions if we carry them out with the correct intention. The famous Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) that actions are according to intentions is explained by the commentators of Hadith that even every day monotonous acts can be converted to acts of worship if they are carried out with the correct intention. For example, when washing clothes makes intention that you are doing the laundry to purify clothes for prayer, to tidy and smarten your appearance as advised by Allah and his Messenger and to provide the family with clothing to cover their awrah. When cooking make intention that you are cooking to providing halal options for your family to partake of, to provide food that offers nourishment and strength to the body for ibadah and to create happiness for your family. Then these acts will also help you come closer to Allah and enable you to find contentment in your different roles in life.

Besides that, one must always make time for primary ibadah such as Quran recitation, nawafil and regular tasbeehat. It's a matter of self discipline and forming a routine so it's a regular part of your day despite the distractions that family life brings. Allah says that 'Indeed your wealth and your children are a test'. They can be a source of distraction from Allah and it's up to us to recognise that and put in place measures that prevent them from being a trial and instead, make them a source of attaining further closeness to Allah and reward.

Salaam all.

diet a warm welcome to you - you have made some lovely points to ponder over. I do worry and pray that i pass the tests set by Allah - but can only do so by His grace.

Crescent i cant believe that Muslims only account for 5% of world GDP. I do agree that there is a massive market to be tapped into - just gotta have the know-how!

Yes, i read that article about halal/kosher being 'barbaric' - so bemused, but the DM just likes to start anti-muslim hysteria over anything - and its fans like need any excuse to start crying muzlamics! [sigh]. I did notice how the article was trying to make a distinction between the halal way compared with the kosher way. Tbh, DM readers are as much anti-semitic as they are islamophobic - its just more fashionable to be a muslim basher at the moment.

I didnt know about the legoland cancellation. Gonna go look at your link in a minute. Before i go...remember we were talking about thanking Allah Almighty but not being able to do so? Well, i came across this hadith by abu dawud:

The Prophet (peacebeupon_him) said: If anyone says in the morning: "O Allah! whatever favour has come to me, it comes from Thee alone Who has no partner; to Thee praise is due and thanksgiving,'! he will have expressed full thanksgiving for the day; and if anyone says the same in the evening, he will have expressed full thanksgiving for the night.

I thought that was totally amazing. I cant find the arabic version of this, so just say it in English instead.

Ok....off to read about legoland...

Just read about legoland.... Am really annoyed that EDL have managed to get the event cancelled. They are a bunch of thugs. Am worried about the summer retreat now.

The DM are a xenophobic scaremongering rag not fit to wipe your'e arse on.. well I never!

I would only be shocked if they (or any paper actually) wrote a balanced factual article involving Muslims. I gave up on the rag years ago when they described a rape of a girl who happened to be Muslim, and they wrote something like her parents only asked her if she was OK when they found out because they were thinking about how difficult it would be to get her an arranged marriage now! They derived all this from the the girl saying she hadn't told her parents and the first they knew was when a police officer came to the house to speak to them, then they asked her if she was OK. Well goodness me parents in shock on hearing their child has been raped, presumably parents of other religions would have been utterly unmoved by it and how did they know what the parents were thinking?

Anyway, Happy Jummah, please keep the Ummah and us in your duas today inshallah.

And Hadith of the day;

Anas (radhiallahu anhu) said that he heard the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) say: Allah the Exalted said: O son of Adam! As long as you invoke Me and plead to Me, I will forgive you whatever you have committed, and I will not make much of it. O son of Adam! If your evil deeds reach the borders of the sky, and then you ask Me for forgiveness, I will forgive you. O son of Adam! If you bring forth the earth full of errors, then you meet Me while you do not associate anything (or anyone) with Me, I will bring forth for you its full of forgiveness. [At-Tirmidhee (Shaikh Albanee rendered it as Hasan)]

Jazakallah khair for the arabic dua crescent . I feel better saying duas in arabic, but it doesnt really matter whether it is said in whichever language, Allah wants kalbun saleem - a pure heart.

Salaam sisters

I just came on to share the legoland news article but was beaten to it! I read that with utter disbelief. I get so wound up by things like that I normally avoid reading them, but as we've been to legoland quite a few times I wanted to read it. Even though the event is advertised as being a Muslim family event, the doors were also open to anyone one from any religion, it's not like non Muslim's were banned. The park is also seasonally closed at the moment and doesn't open until a week after this event would of taken place, so it wasn't closed especially. Why are the EDL able to dictate things like this?

I also saw the news with regards to banning halal meat. It's madness it really is. Subtle thing like these two events in the news really make me feel like we are under attack. I've never felt like that before but it feels like we always have to justify ourselves.

Crescent with regards to schooling issues, ours are still there but not so extreme anymore alhamdullilah. The school handled it well which I think plays a massive part in these things. I'm trying to teach dd to be confident in her skin (and her hair) which is slowly coming through. She had her hair down at school one day last week for the first time since she was 4. When I say down I mean 'out', she has a full on afro. As soon as she got into the playground my heart sank for her as one of the girls in her class came over and literally just stared at it, but dd just said 'what are you looking at?' in a quizzical way and walked off. As far as I'm aware the day was fairly uneventful and she has lots of people grabbing it (why do people think they can just grab a handful of someone's hair?) but she took it fine alhamdullilah.

Have you decided on whether you'll be changing your dc's school? I think the last you mentioned was you were looking to move them and had looked around the new school?

Fuzzy I like the idea of Hadith of the day, maybe it can be something we can start doing? Help the thread come to life again?

I don't know about anybody else but I sure am glad to see the sun starting to shine through and the weather warm up slightly. I was getting a bit bored of getting drenched everyday day on the walk to school!

Quilliam just do my head in! I cant believe they have salma yaqoub, MCB, MAB and islam channel on their list - in fact, cant believe they have any of those on their list.

As for taking away children of radical muslims - if you go by quilliam's list, then that would be very worrying. Yes, i also feel under attack, as lost has stated. There is always some story about telling the muslims how to live nowadays. It makes me realise how xenophobic a big part of society really is.

Happy Jummah everyone, remember the ummah in your duas today.

Salaam everyone.

Jummah Mubarak.

Just found out Tony Benn has passed away. I feel gutted. He was a lovely lovely man.

I was saddened to hear that too, he was a decent guy.